Product Description

Joni Mitchell is no stranger to jazz, as evidenced by her work with the legendary Charles Mingus toward the end of his life. On her 20th album, Mitchell forgoes the outer reaches of Mingus's jazz in favour of interpreting more traditional American vocal pop. By interpreting material normally associated with Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, the Canadian iconoclast travels down the same road as her old pal Linda Ronstadt. Unlike Ronstadt's mid-'80s three-album foray with Nelson Riddle into the great American standards songbook, Mitchell approaches this project on a more personal and conceptual level, as she traces the arc of a modern romantic relationship.
Backed by the billowy sounds of the London Symphony Orchestra, Mitchell's burnished vocals provide a perfect match as she goes from discovering love ("At Last") to see itstart to crumble ("Sometimes I'm Happy") and ultimately collapse ("Stormy Weather"). Jazz greats Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock add some bite to the lush orchestrations. Mitchell weaves a personal touch into the conceptual framework by including a radically altered version of her own "A Case of You" and "Both Sides Now". A haven for pop-vocals fans whose definition of the genre begins and ends with Sinatra.

Track Listing

1. You're My Thrill
2. At Last
3. Comes Love
4. You've Changed
5. Answer Me My Love
6. Case Of You
7. Don't Go To Strangers
8. Sometimes I'm Happy
9. Don't Worry 'bout Me
10. Stormy Weather
11. I Wish I Were In Love Again
12. Both Sides Now

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1833 in Music
• Released on: 2000-02-28
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Taking its title from one of Joni Mitchell's best-known songs, this atmospheric album traces the arc of a relationship: from first excited flush, through resigned closure, to the next real thing. Two of the tracks are re-recordings of early Mitchell songs--the title track and the lesser-known "A Case Of You", but otherwise the tales are told in the words of others. The self-painted cover gives a clue to the album's mood: lush and lavish, with a 70-piece orchestra accompanying songs popularised by Sinatra, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. This is Joni Mitchell as torch singer, with well-chosen songs ("Stormy Weather", "Don't Go To Strangers", "Answer Me My Love") brightly arranged and beautifully sung. But from a singer whose reputation as one of rock's most respected songwriters was established by early, folk-influenced albums such as Clouds and Blue and the crowd-pleasing Court And Spark, the lack of new material on Both Sides Now is inevitably disappointing. --Patrick Humphries

Customer Reviews

Simply Beautiful
My introduction to Joni Mitchell was about 5 years ago with the album hissing of summer lawns, which changed a lot of things musically for me in short I was blown away. Joni Mitchell voice on this album has got a lot deeper but it only brings out the songs more if this album doesn't move you in a way then I have to agree with other reviewers you really don't have a pulse, in short this album is simply beautiful.

Joni - "All sides now"...
I've been a dedicated Joni fan for decades, but I don't think I've ever heard her as good as here! Old songs with grand orchestra arrangements, but not at all drowning her voice, which only has grown in quality and feeling over the years. Old Classics like "A Case of You" and "Both Sides Now" sounds absolutely great. And "Stormy Weather" doesn't come very short to legendary Lena Horne.

My very best recommendations!!

It doesn't get better than this
I was introduced to this album when Simon Rattle (yes, the classical conductor!) included one of the tracks for his Desert Island Discs, saying he had always been a fan of Jazz. As a jazz fan of 30 years, I thought 'What the hell is he talking about - jazz? Joni Mitchell?" Then I heard the music and realised I should have better trusted his judgement. I bought the album straight away, knowing that there was at least one stunning track on it. To my immense joy I discovered that every single track on the album could justify its purchase. I remain utterly astounded that someone not really known as a jazz singer could completely master the art in the way Joni does on this album. I don't know how many hundreds of jazz singers I have heard over the years, but none of them are, or were, better than this. The highlight for me is Joni's reworking of her own song 'A case of you'. It is so hauntingly beautiful that I can no longer play it in the car because I can neither concentrate on the road nor see clearly through my moist eyes. The orchestration on the album is superb, with some wonderful accompaniment by a few jazz 'galactico's', but together they provide only the canvass on which Mitchell paints her masterpiece. Five stars is not enough.